GREENSBORO, NC -- News & Record editor Jeff "Grits" Gauger has issued an apology for a column in which he portrayed characters such as the McCoys and Bubba discussing North Carolina politics while slurping grits at Mabeline's diner and saying "ain't" and "purdy." (It truly was one of the worst things I've read -- ever.)
Gauger says we got it all wrong. He wasn't mocking Southerners, but some "universal hick."
I don't buy it.
His stereotypes were all Southern. Although he says he intended for his characters to just as easily have represented someone from his previous home of eastern Ohio, there were no references to scrapple, hanky pankies or pop. No colloquialisms like "you-uns," "like I say," "jeez-oh-man" or the ubiquitous missing infinitive. No reference to the sorrows of the Cleveland Browns fans, Pabst Blue Ribbon or the devil's strip.
There are plenty of cliches one could use to mock the people of eastern Ohio, but all of Gauger's stereotypes were specific to Southerners. So I don't beleive his explanation. Not at all. He was mocking Southerners and Southerners alone.
There is a larger point beyond whom Gauger was mocking. It is that he was mocking at all—that, after a year and a half of living here, Gauger remains unable to write about us with any sincerity or knowledge of who we are. He still doesn't know us. From the get go, he has only written about the people of our region as caricatures—people enamoured with grits*, Duke blue vs. Carolina blue and who can't make him a satisfactory bowl of soup.
It is not just that Guager writes these insipid, boring and unenlightened caricatures, but that he does so at the expense of meaningful commentary, substituting his corn pone for serious commentary on the vote to amend the state's constitution regarding marriage, the city's attempted censorship of Yes!Weekly, errors in his paper and its website fiasco. He's silent on these, but grits and diners are an endless inspiration. It's why he got the nickname "Grits Gauger" in the first place and why it sticks.*
People look for newspaper editors to be smart, to have the ability to offer some insight into ourselves or to, at least, have some significant knowledge of what's going on around them. Gauger doesn't have anything substantive to say about his new home or its people and, after a year and a half, it seems he never will.
* Links to these articles are unavailable do to the obliteration of the News & Record's website under Gauger's watch.
(Hat tip, Sam Hieb)
Holy cow. I only got through the first few lines of Gauger's column before closing the page.
ReplyDeleteI mean, damn, I thought I was bad about making fun of North Carolinians.
I don't need to read the apology. The column referenced North Carolina in the title.
While I'm speaking about the N&R, I'll say the website sucks so bad. I clicked on the Thomasville drug bust story that is on the front page and was redirected to a story about a drowning victim, which didn't even appear on the front page so I don't think I clicked the wrong link. What's up with that?
Also, I'm sick of how they leave headlines up for weeks at a time. Occasionally I click on one thinking it is "news", only to realize I read the same story weeks before.
Keep up the good work, Roch. I've been reading, just not commenting. Sure could use a guy like you on city council.
-Bran
Thanks. I think the N&R's "old" news problem that you expereinced is that their "most popular" stories stick around for a long time. Because they are popular, they stay at the top of the list for days at a time, which causes them to get clicked even more and to thus become even more popular and staying around even longer.
ReplyDeleteIt was a problem I faced with Greensboro 101, I wanted popular (or pinned) items to stay more prominent but to still age away, just at a slower rate. It comes down to the right algorithm (thanks Mrs. Huckabee and Mrs. Williams), that creates a score that is a combination of popularity and the inverse of its age plus a few other tweaks.
Thanks for the compliment regarding a council run. I won't lie, I've been tempted. But for reasons personal and professional, I don't think I'm ready yet. Soon -- maybe.
Perhaps you'll throw your hat in the ring?
I no longer care what the News and Record does. I've long ago given up hope they would actually act in a professional manner in the way they conduct themselves.
ReplyDeleteHas the new ownership fully integrated the paper into it's operations? I find it hard to imagine they would tolerate what this newspaper does, and what it fails to do.
Roch, perhaps, but not this go 'round.
ReplyDeleteBob, ditto.
-Bran